It’s a well-known problem that only 35% of STEM university graduates are female, but what’s more shocking is that just 3% of female students say working in technology is their first choice for a career path. As a result, few women begin working in tech and many feel that they’ll never break into the industry later in their careers.
In the Cambridge Science Park, we’re surrounded by impressive and successful women working in tech everyday. While some have been in the industry since they graduated, many made the switch later in their careers. We asked four women at Gearset, who’ve successfully made a career change to join the tech industry, for their advice on making the move.
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Transfer your experience to tech
Claudia, a Sales Engineer, studied art and began her career in client services for an HR software company. She applied because she had an interest in HR and soft skills from her degree that transferred well to client support, but quickly demonstrated her technical ability. Claudia now says that the software expertise and problem solving she handled in that role were clearly aligned with the skills needed to work as a Sales Engineer, but at the time “I had such a deeply entrenched view of ‘tech’ as a completely impenetrable industry that I genuinely thought that the only thing I had to offer was that vague connection to HR”.
Claudia took the confidence she found in her early career to begin applying to Customer Support Engineer roles, and highlights that existing experience outside of the tech industry qualifies you to work in it. She emphasises that “the fact that you don’t have experience in ‘tech’ (which is a fairly nebulous idea that conjures up different images for different people) is not actually a barrier to having an exciting career and thriving in the space — there are entry level positions everywhere where the key qualities that you need are being smart and nice”.
Once you do get a role in tech, Claudia highlights that ongoing commitment to development from employers and yourself is the key to progression. She suggests that “having the ability to be introspective about your own strengths and weaknesses and seeking support and guidance are the best ways to create a stable growth trajectory to take you where you want to be”. And be sure to take the confidence you’ve found in your previous industry so you can see that “imperfections are learning experiences rather than disasters”.
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Look at company culture
Events Manager Liz had a long-standing career working in events for education and live events before moving into a marketing role in the semiconductor industry: “Whilst working in the semiconductor industry, I got to work on a project about predicting future trends — such as wearables and electric vehicles — and this really piqued my interest in tech.” Liz also highlights that company culture has been critical in her career, and found that the tech industry was in line with her priorities: “When looking at a company I want to ensure that they are a right fit for me as much as I’m a right fit for them. The tech industry tends to align with these values.”
Liz successfully transitioned to event management for tech companies, bringing her established events experience to roles while tackling the technical knowledge she needed to learn. She points out that there are a wide range of roles needed in tech, so you’ll find a role that aligns with your skills and career: “Tech doesn’t have to mean coding. There are multiple ways to get into the tech industry. From project management to marketing there are endless roles to be explored. Once you’ve identified an area you would like to specialise in, build your knowledge.”
While Liz recommends that “for flexibility, I would recommend utilising online learning platforms”, she adds that there’s a lot of work to be done by employers and schools to support women in seeking tech careers. “Technical learning wasn’t a subject matter when I was at school and this hindered potential opportunities to develop relevant skills for roles. I would like to see more tech companies provide entry programmes such as apprenticeships, and returner programmes for women.”
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Take development opportunities
Catherine, an Engineering Team Lead, began her career in science publishing after completing a PhD in chemistry. She realised she was ready for a career change as “I wasn't really enjoying my job. The best bit was looking at stats in excel and predicting how many papers were going to be submitted in the next month. I liked writing formulae and tiny snippets of code.” So, Catherine began exploring this interest through online courses, including a 2000+ hour course through FreeCodeCamp, to learn how to code.
At first, Catherine was a “bit dismissive” of working in tech, as she was unsure of whether the industry was for her. However, she enjoyed the problem solving of coding so much that she decided to quit her previous job to retrain full time as a software engineer: “After 6 months I got an internship, and after that I joined Gearset and have been here ever since.” Now she tells others “don't be put off by preconceptions of what tech and the people who work in tech are like.”
Catherine’s switch from science publishing has given her a unique set of skills in her current role. The management experience that Catherine had gained in her previous career transitioned really well to her current position as a Team Lead, where she guides her team’s process and workflow. And, she highlights that in the tech industry “there's a huge variety of people and having a different perspective to the usual is a real benefit.” Catherine also added that it’s important to find tech companies that give you the resources for your own further development and “treat you like an individual, so you can learn and grow at your own pace.” She says that with the development opportunities in her current role “everything's been about how I work and how I learn, not what a generic software engineer does.”
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See that you already have the required skills
Maria, a Product Enablement Manager, began her career in social media for advertising agencies before working in customer service for an online booking platform. While there, she transitioned into a role in Training and Quality, where she supported the customer service team and was hands-on with their internal system, which gave her the “first impression of what it’s like working for a big tech company”.
Her combination of experience in customer service and handling internal systems led Maria to customer success for a fintech enterprise, where she first started working with troubleshooting software and licence allocation. She reflects that “learning their system was a massive learning curve, and I loved the challenge. I would walk past engineering and say, ‘One day I will work in this team’. Just because technical roles appealed to me — not that I could write a line of code”. Now Maria works as a Product Enablement Manager, teaching others in her tech company about the software — she has some of the strongest technical knowledge of anyone in the company!
Maria’s biggest piece of advice for those thinking about breaking into the tech industry is to “find out what you’d love doing and what the required skills are — most likely they aren’t a degree in coding but rather specific skills useful for the area you’re inclined to”. Your experience in other industries will likely have given you the skills you need for your dream role in tech. Maria also highlighted that employers need to see the potential of candidates rather than a strict set of required skills, highlighting that “Gearset gave me an opportunity based on potential talent rather than a safe bet based on a strong background.”
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Look at career growth within tech
Krystyna, now a Product Marketer, began her career in art sales before moving into a sales role for a marketing agency. The agency specialised in web development and SEO, which was Krystyna’s first insight into the tech needs of many businesses. “Through this role, I spoke with founders and marketers from many different industries and sectors. It amazed me that despite the businesses being so different they still had problems and challenges with tech and marketing that were ubiquitous.”
As a result, Krystyna encourages women to see how “every business is a tech business” that’s reliant on software and hardware, which means all of your previous experience can apply to tech roles. As a result, Krystyna highlights that working in tech will allow you to keep in touch with a variety of industries, and your experience in a previous industry may be a big selling point to tech employers: “When you work in tech the world is your oyster. You can work in every industry and apply your skills to any number of problems.”
And because the tech industry is a booming market that gives you valuable transferable skills, Krystyna believes that working in tech can give you rapid and fulfilling career growth. She shared that “there’s a skills shortage in the tech industry and the market is still growing, so this is the ideal place to have a long career with plenty of opportunity.”
You can make the switch
Making any career change is difficult, but breaking into the tech industry as a woman can feel that bit more intimidating and inaccessible. We hope that the careers and advice shared here will highlight that there are opportunities for women to join and grow in the tech industry.
There are so many opportunities within the Cambridge Science Park for you to find your next role — no matter your current industry. To network or find out more about different roles, it’s worth checking out the mixers for different career paths and specialisms on the Science Park events page. And, if you’re looking to apply for roles, head over to our careers site — we’d love to hear from you.
